Despite a barrage of hefty bonuses, loosened and more progressive enlistment requirements, and even the creation of innovative pre-boot camp programs, the U.S. military mostly fell short in efforts to bring more Americans into the services over the past year — and it's unclear how or when that will change.
Of the five Defense Department service branches, only two met their active-duty enlisted recruiting goals for fiscal 2023 — the Marine Corps and the Space Force, by far the smallest services and with the lightest recruiting burden. The others, the Army, Air Force and Navy, fell short. Every service — with the exception of the Marine Corps, which squeaked by, in some cases by just one person — missed some element of its target numbers, whether from the reserve, National Guard or officer goals.
The military took a variety of innovative approaches to inspire young Americans to join up, including reviving the Army's 1980s slogan “Be All You Can Be,” the Air Force loosening prior tattoo and drug testing policies, and the Navy rolling out record-high financial incentives up to $140,000. But those efforts ultimately did not push the services over the line of their recruitment goals.
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